1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to guard means for shielding elongated tear-edges, for instance the tear-edges provided on kitchen-paper roll holders.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The fact that the tear-edges provided on different types of roll-holders can cause injury to the hands of persons who grip carelessly the end of a paper roll contained in a roll-holder without due care to the presence of the tear-edges is very problematic. In order to enable kitchen paper to be produced at high machine-speeds and in order to provide a paper which is strong and durable in use, such paper will contain relatively strong fibres. Consequently, it is necessary for the tear-edge against which such paper is severed from the roll to be sharp and preferably also serrated. For obvious reasons, a sharp knife-edge is less practical or suitable in this connection, since the user cannot be relied upon to exercise care when reaching for the end of a paper roll, in order to sever a strip of paper therefrom.
Serrated tear-edges have long been used with the type of roll-holders meant here. Such tear-edges enable the paper to be severed at any point along its length and will also enable fibre-reinforced paper and other kinds of kitchen fabric to be severed from the roll along a straight line.
In order to minimize the risk of inflicting an injury when reaching for the end of a paper-roll hanging from a roll holder, it has been proposed that a relatively long length of paper should be left hanging from the holder. In the case of earlier designs of roll-holders with which the paper is taken from the roll through a centre cavity therein, the cylindrical tear-edge is located at a relatively long distance from the centre-hole in the bottom of the roll-holder through which the paper is pulled out. Despite the fact that this design enables the paper web to hang down through a distance equal to almost half the diameter of the roll-holder, it still does not eliminate completely the occurrence of hand injuries.
The next stage in the development of such holders resulted in the provision of a protective collar located externally of the tear-edge. However, in order for the collar to fulfill a protective function while not constituting an obstacle when severing a strip of paper from the roll, it was necessary to give the collar a wavy configuration, as evident for instance from SE-B-8202091-8.
Another method of reducing the risk of hand injuries from serrated tear-edges involves holding the tear-edges in a shielded location when not in use, and to advance the tear-edges to an active position when required for use. This method is the inventive subject of SE-B-8702872-6.
One drawback associated with tear-edges which need to be brought to an active position on given occasions is that they must be pivotally journalled and provided with means for transmitting movement of the roll when a length of paper is drawn therefrom.
In the case of roll-holders in which several such tear-edges are provided and mounted such as to enable one tear-edge to be swung out in dependence on the direction in which it is desired to sever paper from the roll, as with the invention according to the aforesaid published specification SE-B-8702872-6, it is necessary to provide one or more means for transferring movement of the paper web to respective pivotal tear-edges. This multi-part construction is prone to malfunction or is rendered awkward by the number of component parts involved. Furthermore, the construction requires the provision of springs operative to return the tear-edges to their respective shielded positions, subsequent to severing a length of paper from the roll.